SWFL-Bonita Beach: 22-inch Hogfish! Red Grouper & Snapper & Redfish

 Friday morning, 10/11, I fished 22 miles offshore with Roberto Russi, his father-in-law, John, and friend, Bill. We used a grunt to land a nice, 25 ½-inch red grouper, and we also had something big cut 100-pound, braided line, so that might have been a bigger grouper! The guys used live shrimp to catch a 14-inch hogfish, a 13-inch yellowtail snapper, a 13-inch lane snapper, a 15-inch mangrove snapper, a half-dozen keeper porkfish, and five whitebone porgies. All in all, it was a good morning of fishing, with seas of two-to-three feet, and no rain! Looks like dry season is finally here.

Saturday morning, 10/12, I fished inshore in Estero Bay with Jim Jambor, Jim Burton, and Herb Lethert. The redfish liked our live shrimp, and the guys caught two keepers, 24 inches and 25 ½ inches. The rest of our catches were mostly throw-backs, including a half dozen mangrove snapper shorts, five short sheepshead, and three stingrays about 3 pounds each. We did catch one keeper mangrove snapper to add to the fish box.

Thursday, 10/17, I fished 28 miles offshore with long-time customer, Dave Carey, and his friends, Scott Ehartt, Steve Wanner, and George Siambanes. The guys did well with red grouper, using pinfish and cut- bait. They caught six keeper red grouper, measuring 21 inches, 22 inches, 24 inches, and a trio of 25-inchers. They released about 45 additional red grouper that were short of keeper size. They used cut-bait for a couple of 40-inch sharp-nose sharks, which they released, then switched to shrimp for some snapper catching. They landed a 13-inch yellowtail snapper, four keeper lane snapper, and a 16-inch triggerfish. They released a dozen lane snapper shorts, along with a mess of grunts and a dozen porgies—no need to keep those with a box full of grouper and snapper!

The same guys who fished with me Thursday fished again on Saturday, 10/19, and we had another great day of fishing, this time about 35 miles west of New Pass. George caught a beautiful red grouper at 25 ½ inches, along with a really nice hogfish at 22 inches, both of them on shrimp, using a light spinning rod. The group added to the fish box another keeper red grouper at 21 inches, seven whitebone porgies that were all 15 and 16 inches, four keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, three yellowtail snapper to 17 inches, and a few large grunts. The guys released about twenty-five red grouper shorts, four yellowtail shorts, a 40-inch sharp-nose shark and a 3-foot long, odd looking fish that I am calling a trumpet fish—I’m not sure if that is its technical name or not, but it resembles a trumpet. We used mostly shrimp for bait, but we did have what I think was a very large shark bite a bait-fish and break the line before we could get a good look at it.

The photo shown is of angler, George Siambones with a 22-inch beauty of a hogfish, caught on shrimp on an offshore trip this past Saturday.


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